Sydney Poetry

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Newspaper Found Poems

Poet Austin Kleon (of Austin, Texas) has brought a new focus to the old art of found poems.

Instead of starting with a blank page, poet Austin Kleon grabs a newspaper and a permanent marker and eliminates the words he doesn’t need.—NPR’s Morning Edition

The following example is from the Wall Street Journal.

Kleon's approach is reminiscent of surrealist cut-up technique, though less aleatory, without the truly random rearrangement of words. American poet Brion Gysin is credited by William Burroughs with creating the first cut-up poems, although the cut-up technique dates back to Tristan Tzara in the 1920s.

I'm not sure if Kleon's texta technique is entirely new (I suspect it's not) but couldn't find any prior examples for this post. If you know of any let me know.

Link

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